Monthly Archives June 2018

The recently contested Inter-District Men’s Championship at Nashik concluded on high. Out of the 32 teams who participated, underdogs Kolhapur and Nagpur made all the way to the finals where Kolhapur registered a thumping 5-1 victory to lift the title. Interestingly, a couple of months back, both these sides also met in the Women’s final at Nashik itself which went down the wire.

After battling it out for six days, we have come down to just two teams. The semi-finals concluded earlier today. Kolhapur defeated Pune while Nagpur overcame Mumbai to prevail into the final. Interestingly, both the semi-finals were decided on penalties.

Kolhapur 0-0 Pune (Kolhapur won 4-2 on penalties)

The first semi-final was a brilliant showdown between two fierce sides. Pune looked to be on top for the majority of the time but failed to convert their chances. On the other hand, Kolhapur took their time to settle down and created several chances on break. Both the sides were physical in their approach.

After failing to score in the normal time, the match went to penalties. Pune brought on goalkeeper Bernard who went onto save Shubham Joshi’s attempt. For Pune, Sahil Bhokre blasted his attempt over the bar, whereas, Akash Meghri spectacularly denied another penalty. Masud Mulla stepped up to take the winning penalty and calmly converted it to book Kolhapur place in the final.

Mumbai 0-0 Nagpur (Kolhapur won 4-2 on penalties)

The second semi-final between Mumbai and Kolhapur was a reminiscent of the first semi. A bit more physical with high tempo. Despite playing with a young and inexperience side, Mumbai were able to cope up with the high pressure of Kolhapur’s midfield and attack.

In the second-half, Mumbai’s Kamran and Sohail almost opened the scoring with a wonderful play while Bryce kept on using his preferred left-foot to launch dangerous ball into the box. Both the sides held up brilliantly in the last few minutes to take the match into penalties.

Usman and Bryce missed for Mumbai while Nagpur was spot on as they converted all their penalties to qualify for the final and set up a clash with Kolhapur.

After going 1-0 down early in the match, Pune fought back brilliantly to qualify for the quarter-finals. Aryan Banerjee’s powerful strike from outside the box nestled into the net in the 18th minute. Captain Srikant levelled the score in the additional time for Pune after rounding off the goalkeeper.

Just a couple of minutes into the second-half, Kevin Ghadge gave Pune a 2-1 lead before Sahil Bhokre scored to secure a 3-1 win for Punekars.

Yevatmal made a great start and caused serious problems to Mumbai. They also created several chances against a side which was yet to be tested so far defensively. But as the game progressed, Mumbai’s confidence started growing.

It was their top-scorer Sohail Khatri with a fantastic solo goal. The in-form strike doubled the lead just before the half-time and kept his side in the driver’s seat. Kamran Siddiqui and Yamik Holkar added one goal each and sealed the win for Mumbai.

A resilient Dhule went down 5-1 against a strong Kolhapur side in an entertaining match. Kolhapur’s duo Sanket Salokhe and Prathamesh Herekar scored two goals each while Suraj Shinghote grabbed one goal. For Dhule, Prashant More scored the consolation goal.

The third day of WIFA Inter-District Men’s Championship turned out to be an entertaining one. From Kolhapur’s whopping victory to Dhule’s sensational win and witnessing a goalkeeper thunderous goal from half-line, it was an electrifying day to say the least. Here is the recap of what happened today.

Pune 0-0 Washim (Pune won 3-2 via penalties)

Washim’s goalkeeper Satyam Deshmukh, undoubtedly the best player on the pitch, tried his best to derail Pune it ended in a sour note. After both the sides were locked at 0-0, the match went to penalties. Despite saving the first penalty, Satyam was left in disbelief as Beed missed three penalties in a row. Pune ended up winning 3-2 to qualify for pre-quarters.

Ahmednagar 0-2 Osmanabad

Akhil Bhartiya grabbed a brace to send Osmanabad into the next round. Both the goals came in either half. After taking the lead, Osmanabad suffered a setback when their goalkeeper was badly injured. But Osmanabad kept their energy alive and scored the second goal after a glancing header by Akhil which sealed a deserving win.

Kolhapur 15-0 Beed

Superb display by Kolhapur. A hat-trick from Nikhil Kulkarni, Sanket and Shreyas More has earned Kolhapur a thumping victory. The other goalscorers were Swarajya, Shahu, Shoraubh, Pratik, Prathamesh and Shlok scored one each. A ruthless Kolhapur is fired up to take the Championship by storm.

Dhule 8-0 Parbhani

Swapnil Pawar’s brilliance inspired Dhule as he bagged four goals in a commendable 8-0 triumph over Parbhani. His striking partner Tirupati Kanderkar scored twice while Sachin Chavan and Didar Sonawane scored apiece in a whopping victory.

The Day 2 of WIFA Inter-District Men’s Championship at Nashik saw a total of four matches. Mumbai, Yevatmal, Nagpur and Nashik have booked their place in the next round of the Championship.

Match 1: Mumbai 10-0 Chandrapur

Mumbai District continued their supreme form as they ended up scoring in double digits for the second time in a row. They had smashed Gadchiroli 17-0 in the previous game. Sohail Khatri who scored four goals in the last match bagged another hat-trick. His striking partner Shoeb Vindani also grabbed a hat-trick. Bryce Miranda, Adnan Ishke, Faiz Khan, and Sumesh Nair scored one each as the game progressed.

Match 2: Nagpur 3-0 Sangli

Without their key player Blesson, Nagpur still managed to score three past Sangli to qualify for the next round. Gulam Imran turned out to be prolific who scored twice in the first-half. Abdul Athar scored the third and final goal of the game to seal a win.

Match 3: Nashik 2-1 Thane

Easily, the best match of the day. An intense and entertaining game which went down the wire. The host were trailing behind when Abhishek Khushwa opened the scoring for Thane in the first-half. Nashik responded brilliantly and levelled the score through Rajendra Bahadur who converted from the spot. Thane missed a couple of golden opportunity which came back to haunt them. In the very last minute, Shubham Dayma snatched the winning goal with a incisive free-kick.

Match 4: Yevatmal 1-1 Nanded (Yevatmal won 3-1 via penalties)

The game between Yevatmal and Nanded had to be decided on penalties after the score was tied at 1-1. Sahil Bhalerao opened the scoring in the first-half for Yevatmal but they surrendered their lead at the very last moment when Shahrukh Pathan scored the equalizing goal. Nanded couldn’t keep their cool in the penalties and lost 3-1 to bow out with their heads held high.

On Monday, WIFA Inter-District Men’s Championship got underway at Nashik. A total of seven matches were played throughout the day. The likes of Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur, and Thane triumphed and booked their place in the next round.